I’ve finally got into regular training for the Nine Edges Challenge in September by building up my 3 mile time on a loop at lunch time. Two weeks in and already got it down 6 minutes.
I’m using Trip Computer on my phone to record the track and time each run, you can see the runs so far by clicking on link below
View Lunchtime Route in a larger map
Recently I’ve working on the poster and programme, as well as dealing with local media for this years inaugural Ram Fest Music Festival on Sunday 4th July.
We’ve got 6 bands on from 2pm until 7.45am, ranging from acoustic guitar to rock to Elvis.
Good beer and a fine BBQ will be available all day. Tickets are £4 per person with accompanied children free. You can pay on the day, or get buy a programme in advance from the cricket club any time over the weekend or on a tuesday night. You can find the club 200m down the hill of Ashday Lane in Southowram Village, near the West Lane works of Marshalls. You can find a map of the location here
Tickets are available from the following outlets (or you can pay on the door on the day)
You can find the facebook event here and the facebook group here
The run to York was fast, faster than I remember from a couple of years ago. The only problem is to remember you are not on the motorway and 85mph is going to cost you a lot of money and points on your driving license. Its only when you drop onto the single carriage way stretch of the A64 to Scarborough that you remember the hazards of agricultural traffic and old shape Nissan Micra drivers.
The camp was a lot more promising on first sight at Cayton Bay than our visit last year for a long weekend at Skipsea. First of all the camp wasn’t slowly being swallowed by coastal erosion, although in Skipsea this is definitely not a bad thing and should be encouraged by all means, hose pipes, dynamite undermining the structure of the ground, very localised earthquakes.
Cayton Bay is out of the way, annexed between Scarborough and Bridlington on the coastal road over looking the surf beach below. The bay itself it flanked by high crumbling mud cliffs, and is dotted with WW2 pill boxes, although their use has been re-designated in more modern times. Served by only a small beach toy shop, a surf shop / school, and strangest of all its own dedicated motobility centre, its never been developed in any serious way however to its benefit.
The worst thing to come out of modern tourism is that everything has to be an “attraction”, it needs to have its own Unique Selling Point. National Parks have stemmed a lot of this where it matters most, and let nature be nature. I am of the opinion that if you are getting visitors to an undeveloped part of the country, they are coming for the place itself, not for the fair, park, visitor centre you place there for next season.
The camp at Skipsea matched the quality of the coastal structure, crumbling and in need of a lot of work, fortunately the caravan and facilities are of far better quality here, although the evening entertainment still would not look out of place at a 1970′s working mens club on a friday evening. The caravan is large, with plenty of space for my recently increased family of 4, en-suite in our room, with range cooker and dishwasher, both of which going unused for the sake of 5 days, along with a large decked area overlooking the sea. Thankfully they’ve overhauled the menu as well from last year, and although its not going to get a Michelin star, its does the job needed.
The swimming pool made my daughters holiday, with 3 visits in 4 mornings, with 1 large slide and a row of smaller ones, it kept her very happy for an hour each morning as well as sending my 4 month old to sleep when we took her in on Thursday, changing facilites could do with some improvement, but they seem to have hit the spot with one 6 year old.
They do however need to think about offering a variety of venues for an evening, as they close the restaurant / bar area at 9pm, leaving you only with an overly loud 70′s cabaret bar as an alternative venue. Having a 4 month old and a 6 year old who doesn’t have a love of 70′s classics means this leaves us a bit cold, and when you are trying to get a baby to settle, it just doesn’t work. The second benefit of the closed area is that it overlooks the playground, so you can let your child play while you watch on through the window over a drink.
They also need to extend their range of beer from the typical range of 1664, Fosters, John Smiths and Strongbow you seem to get at these places. Just getting 1 cask ale would be a start. They also need to extend the spirits range to include Pimms (for my wife), and something other the bog standard brand name whiskies and brandies for when you want something a bit more quality for the end of night. Luckily there is a pub across the road, the Tow Bar which avoids all of the above, Black Sheep on tap, Pimms behind the bar, conservatory overlooking the play equipment and no loud music.
Whitby Bay, 20 miles to the north of Scarborough, is a place I visited last year on a joint birthday / wedding anniversary weekend away with my immediate family, its a place with a fantastic drive over the Yorkshire Moors from either Scarborough or Pickering. Nestled in a wide bay, the town is split in two halves by the River Esk, the eastern side is the more tourist side with the Abbey and shambles with every other shop selling Whitby Jet stone, leading one shop to declare itself to be a ‘Whitby Jet Free Zone’. It does however have a couple of nice pubs at the bottom of the climb to the abbey itself. The western side is the more commercial area, with the main shops and the traditional sea front stalls, arcades and fairground rides. Heading further west leads to the promenade along the beach and the Pavilion. The town trades a lot on its two local celebrities, James Cook the sailor and Dracula, with festivals linked to them throughout the year.
A place to recommend here for lunch is upstairs at the Jolly Sailor, a small but friendly dining room, we arrived near the end of the lunchtime sitting. Its a Samuel Smiths pub, so you know you are going to get quality beers, including my favourites, Alpine Lager and Pure Brew Lager, the former a bargain at under £2. We had a thick well cooked burger, a chilli con carne and a chicken caesar salad and all hit the spot.
Scarborough is a town of two halves, the south bay full of tourist attractions, the north bay undeveloped before you reach the newly built beach front diner and apartments at the far end of the promenade road, with a parade of hotels overlooking from high above. This will soon be joined by the new oasis cafe, replacing the ramshackle shed they occupy at the moment.
The south bay is your typical sea side front, with arcades, fish shops and cafes surrounding the harbour area, the main town hides behind the hill with ubiquitous castle perched on it. Further south is the spa complex which being renovated. If you don’t have a 4 month old, then I recommend the pirate boat trip from the harbour, we did this a couple of years ago and was well worth the money.
We parked at South Cliffe Park and did the 25 minute walk down through South Cliffe Gardens to the harbour coming down at the Clock Cafe at the far end of the spa complex. It is here you realise there were some lazy gits in the Victorian era, not 1 but 3 trams taking you from the beach to the top of the cliff, when its only a 5 minute minute walk at the very worse. The worrying thing is enough people are still using them today to keep them commercially viable, I’m hoping that it is for the novelty value.
The town is one of the better examples of how to commercialise without selling your soul to the devil, yes, there are arcades and cheap tat shops, but they are held in check with higher end restaurants and shops. The north bay promenade has its hazards, mainly getting soaked from waves breaking over the path at the latter end, but a fun miles can be had wave dodging, andrea came closest even though she wasn’t officially playing. Its quite compulsive just chilling and watching the waves break along the shore. The return walk from south shore to the facilities at the end of north bay is about 5.5 miles, a nice distance in my book for a days walking.
I must mention the Oakwheel Pub at Burniston about 15 minutes north of Scarborough where we went for dinner, great quality food, and no worry of not getting enough, My burger (without a bun, a first for me, but not needed), came with homecooked chips, carrots, beans, new potatoes and creamed leeks, as well as tomato sauce for the burger, all done to perfection. Andrea’s butterflied Gammon was equally generous, with peas, chips, mushrooms and egg, and cooked just as well. The best meal so far this holiday, and one which will be hard to beat.
Bridlington is simply put “Scarborough Light” without the castle. We started up at the north end and took the promenade to the harbour, although to the towns credit, at least part of the fair was open already unlike Scarborough, and the mini roller coaster kept Elise happy as did the Walters. The Pavilion bar in the middle of the fairground did its job for a drink and Elises very lurid mix of fruit cocktail and mint choc chip ice cream sundae, a photo of which you can find on my facebook page. It tastes just as it sounded, not unpleasant, just weird. We ate here last year on our visit and the pizza’s were pretty good back then as well. The resort is quite compact, focusing around the harbour. Its a decent enough area with all the facilities you expect, it could however, do with being done up a little. We walked back through town to the car to find somewhere for tea.
However before we get to that point, I must mention the crack cocaine that is the “2p pushers”. My daughter loves them, I don’t know why, but she is quite happy to keep shoving 2p’s in them as long as we would let her, and get excited at the smallest win, not noticing that she’s lost 4 times the amount already. (Before you ask, its £1 a day we allow). You can see in a very pure way how people get addicted to gambling over a period, and with the wrong tendencies it can be crippling.
Another pub worthy of mention is the Martonian at Bempton, just to the north of Bridlington, a rarity with it serving Samuel Smith Alpine Lager outside of a tied house. A large open pub, with two levels of menu, the £3.95 meals, and the regular priced meals which is a common split in a lot of places now. It has a play area visible from a conservatory dining area to keep children busy, and is located on the main Bempton road. Me and andrea both plumped for the enchiladas and a side of nachos. I’m picky about my Mexican food, and this was a good attempt for a non specialist restaurant, although I question the coleslaw dip which came along with it for authenticity. My daughters seemingly 1 millionth spaghetti bolognese of the week was polished off totally, so I can only guess it hit the spot.
We also visited Playdale Farm Park near Cayton as well, and although maybe slightly too expensive for what it provided, it provided everything we expected with adventure playground, hay barn, lamb feeding, as well as all the usual farm animals which can be fed. It kept Elise entertained as well as her mother on the play equipment at times.
Would I recommend this holiday to other people, certainly, if you use the camp as a base and share the driving over the week, it works well, and you get to see most of the east coast in this area, you could add Robin Hoods Bay to the Whitby day, and Filey to the Bridlington day to make slightly more of it. The food on the camp does the job, but personally I would leave later and eat on the way back home as there are plenty of places en route more worthy of your eating dollars. Of all the places visited, Whitby Bay is most picturesque, but Scarborough has most to do. We are planning to rebook as soon as we can get the holiday vouchers out of Tesco Clubcard again (you can use £40 rewards for £10 vouchers at Park Resorts) for the same time next year, this time it shouldn’t cost us a penny, double bonus!
Just Lightwater Valley theme park on the way home today and then its back to reality and a proper broadband connection, I’ve been coping this week by transferring this text file to my phone and then copying and pasting the text into the blog back end in the phones browser. It works, but its a faff! Viva la Wireless router.
This article was published in the April Issue of Caldercask. I will post a link when the website is updated.
I’ve been visiting Sowerby Bridge regularly for the last 12 years, in fact ever since I moved up to Halifax in 1998. For many of those years twice weekly, as a member of the canoe club based at Greenups Mill, and inevitably it ended up with a pint the pub afterwards. However back then we were not quite so blessed with the quanitity of good real ale pubs, the best choices being the Moorings and Puzzle Hall Inn, both of which are still doing a fine job today. The other choices of the Turks Head, Engineers, Bulls Head and the William IVth on the main road were less appealing at the time.
How things have changed now, the town is now my first choice for a night out, with many top quality pubs and resturants, including my favourite bar in the area, The Works. The list of well regarded real ale pubs include the aforementioned Works, Moorings and Puzzle Hall Inn, the Jubilee Refreshment Rooms at the Railway Station, the Navigation Inn and the Shephards Rest. Foodwise you are spoilt by several good indian resturants, including Chilli 2, Shyiba and the Village and Java resturants. For traditional fayre the Moorings, Navigation,Works and Firehouse all fit the bill nicely.
The town itself could host a good, if short pub walk, going from the Puzzle Hall Inn, via the Works, Firehouse, Bar Francisca for a cocktail for a change, then down taking your pick from the bars on the main road, before finishing off at the Moorings and Navigation. However I will be doing a circular walk from Sowerby Bridge, taking in some of the hills which surround the town before finishing back at the other end of the town. Don’t say you weren’t warned in the last article, and yes it does involve the up hill variety this time, not much, but a short sustained hill is encountered en-route.
Like my last walk I’ll start at my favourite pub in the area, the Works, from here, we’ll walk through town, join the canal to the old wire works at Copley, then head up to Saville Park via Woodhouse Scar Woods, across Saville Park to the Big 6 for a mid walk drink, then back down towards Sowerby Bridge walking in the shadow of Wainhouse Tower, with an optional pub stop at the Royal Hotel, and then back into town for a couple of stops at the near end of town and the Refreshment Rooms at the railway station. Distance is about 7km or 4.5 miles, with 130m of ascent.
The Works arrived on the scene a few years ago, and added modern pub centred around real ale to the town pub circuit, the opposite of most pubs in Sowerby Bridge, the high ceilings and open bar make it feel large, leather sofas making you feel welcome. A popular stop over for cyclists and walkers, and equally more heeled customers. A bar full of real ales, with at least 6 on tap any point, with regular ales from Timothy Taylor, Moorhouse and Copper Dragon breweries, and a couple of good quality ciders. It rather stole the Puzzle Hall Inn’s glory as the real ale pub in the area, though after a closure, that has now re-opened and is doing good trade. Consolidating this with Beer Festivals, room hire and good food has meant that the place has gone from strength to strength in an increasing competitive local market.
However, we must start the walk, so we reluctantly leave the soft sofa, and head on our way, heading through town, we head towards Halifax, and at the junction of Tuel Lane, we head onto the Calder and Navigation Canal towards Copley. This canal has the good fortune to have been restored in the last 20 years as part of the Rochdale Canal regeneration, and thus benefits from good paths for its distance. Its a canal I’ve cycled frequently from Mirfield all the way to Summit with different starting and stopping points, but the section from Salterhebble to Hebden Bridge is one of my favourite and most travelled, and the section I am walking is included in this. Nestled in the valley, its tree lined bank disguse the fact you are never far from the main Wakefield Road, and at times you are walking between the two navigable water courses, the other being the River Calder. On the way, there are access bridges to both the Navigation Inn and the Moorings in the Canal Basin.
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After about 2km you will reach the now flattened site of the old wire works opposite the HBOS offices, this is your point of departure from the canal and the start of the first uphill section in this series. After joining the main road and crossing to the far side, you will come to Woodhouse Lane after 100m, this cobbled lane leads all the way up to the junction with Albert Promenade, which we will be walking below later. Its a steady ascent, lasting just under 1/2 a mile, nothing too strenuous, and before you know it, you will be at the junction with Scarr Bottom Road. At this point you need to carry on straight ahead to just before the left hand bend, you will see a No Entry sign on the right, and 30m before this is a path on the left leading into the woods. On a hot summers day, these woods give welcome shade, something which attracts local climbers to the crags below the wall at Albert Promenade. With over 20 rocks up to 12m tall, its fun for both the serious climber and also kids to mess about on the smaller rocks en-route. At the end of the woods, take the cobbles uphill to the promenade itself and take in the panoramic views over the Calder Valley.
Your next pub is not too far away now, and you’ve done all the hard work. Head across to Saville Park, and following the boundary wall round at the top of the park. While you are here, you can take in the view across the whole of Beacon Hill, from Elland all the way over to A58 leading out of Halifax town centre. The Big 6 is not evident as it is tucked away in a back street. As you round the school, you will see a play park on the far side of the road, take the rutted road next to it and 2 streets back on Horsfall St, you will find the Big 6, with its beer garden on the next street along. This pub couldn’t be more different to the works, an old fashioned pub, made out of 6 terraced houses knocked together, with several distinct areas, and more nooks and crannies. A small bar serves 5 real ales as well as a good bottle selection. Its no worse for its traditional layout, which is conducive to a good atmosphere. It may look on the small side, but it can pack in plenty of people when called for. The beers are kept well and regularly rotated, and there is always a good welcome from the staff.
Now we are half way through our walk, its now time to return to Sowerby Bridge, we will retrace our steps as far as the cobbled path into Woodhouse Scar woods, cutting over the top side of the school this time and walking past the impressive front to the school, until turning right into Albert Promenade, and dropping into the woods, however this time, we will stay on the cobbled path and bear right, and eventually meet a junction. Turn left, then when you reach Scarr Bottom Road, turn right, following the road. Mostly free of trees on the lower slope, you start to get more of the clear views across the valley and onto the tops opposite, always however getting closer to being in the shadow of the local monument, Wainhouse Tower, open to the public on certain days until a few years ago due to structural issues. On a clear day from Southowram you can see Wainhouse Tower across the tops and in the background, Stoodley Pike.
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After a while, drop onto Master Lane to your left, and past the Tower House, after a slight uphill, take left onto Upper Washer Lane, and you will eventually get to the Royal Hotel. I put this as an optional stop off, as the pub was closed as I went past while doing this walk myself, and thus cannot judge the place on its real ale credentials, however it looks well maintained and tidy, so it may well be worth an excursion. In any case, continue down this road as it becomes Edward Road, and you will soon meet the main Pye Nest Road into Sowerby Bridge. Follow this road down to the roundabout and go left into the town itself. The next stop on this tour is the Moorings in the Canal Basin, although an alternative is the Navigation Inn, which can be reached via a steep road just after the Wakefield Road junction, sitting above the canal, a lovely vantage point on a warm summers day, from which you can enjoy one of several good ales.
The Moorings has just reopened after a refurbishment, and have kept a good real ale presence on the bar, with Black Sheep, Old Speckled as regular beers and a rotation cast of guests including Ruddles quite frequently. There is a good range of food, and have eaten there many times before and can well recommend the homemade burgers and chunky chips. The only downside is that they also give a regular pump to Greene King IPA, but that is a personal thing, as I am not a fan of the brewery at all, stemming from a month working down there near Ipswich a few years ago, and being served poorly kept pints for the period. With plenty of space both inside, with views over the canal, and outside at the front of the building to enjoy the sun, its a worthy place to spend an afternoon chilling in its own right.
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Now onto the last short leg of our journey, rejoin the main road through the town centre past the canal, and in the middle of the terrrace of shops you will see a narrow passage way signed as the route to the railway station, head through here and over the bridge and follow the signs to station, you will reach the Jubilee Refreshment Rooms next to the track. This bar opened last year in one of the old platform buildings after 12 years of negotiation with the buildings owners by the Wright brothers, a pair of railway and real ale enthusiasts. Despite some set backs due to break ins and minor crime, is still providing a pleasant environment to enjoy quality range of real ales, normally 6 at any time, and if you are hungry at the end of your walk, they also serve light snacks to soak up your pint with. It is also the perfect place to wait for your train home if you arrived here that way.
I’ll leave any local extensions down to you as normal, but there are plenty of worthwhile options to choose from in the town.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Halifax – Sowerby Bridge
Bus – Service 579
Train – both the Manchester and Blackpool services from Halifax serve the station.
Its been a couple of years since I was last on a training course, in fact, it was at the same training centre I am currently sitting at now, doing my SQL Server Reporting Services course. This time its SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). It’s the start of day two, and I’ll give you my main observation, my company, like any other who send somebody here will be paying close to £300 per day for the pleasure, for that you expect a lunch and refreshments. Lunch, no complaints there, good food and plenty of it, however its in the refreshment stakes they fall over. For my company’s £900 I don’t want water mixed with mud and a hint of coffee taste (correction : some jugs of coffee did appear at morning break, better, but no cigar), I want proper fresh filter coffee, it costs 10-15p per cup, its not going to break the bank. Tesco’s Finest Instant Columbian is doing a decent job, but its not the real deal!
Second, I need Wifi. I’m the sole developer at work, and a lot of knowledge sits purely in my head, some issues need me to dial in to work to resolve in breaks, however it appears that wireless isn’t viewed that way here, it was on my last visit, I’d like to know what has changed since then, given the fact that the number of wifi enabled devices has grown since that point in time. A couple of us have asked with no joy so far.
The first day is always a strange mix, if like me, you have some previous knowledge, its a mix of what you know already, while picking up some side knowledge as you go along. Not much gets done before lunch as people are brought up to speed, and the real work starts after lunch. The second day is when the new concepts truly start to be introduced, and from the syllabus it going to be a lot more interesting day today. However I’ve already got some good ideas for how we can replace legacy applications with SSIS, as well as applying it to new data migration projects.
There is usually more than one course running at any time, in my case as well as mine, there seems to be Access and Excel courses running for local authority employees, most of which look like they don’t want to be there and would rather be back in the office avoiding work (my wife is local authority worker and can testify that this is the case in real life as well, having worked for them for 17 years), the rest seems to appreciate the change of scene for a day or two, and are keen to learn something, rather than just pass the course to help against their pay rise and additional contributions to their early retirement final salary pension.
The phrase “a change is as good as a rest” is very true in my sector, sometimes you get so entrenched in the day to day work that you stop looking at the big picture, how things can be replaced to improve performance or save time. This time I have had a change and rest, with the long easter holiday leading into the course giving me a full week out of the office, it gives you space to think generally about projects without having to deal with the details.
This is especially true with one of my projects at work at the moment where I have backed my self into a corner I can’t get out of, and need to step back and look at my approach to the solution when I return to work, without going into detail, I’m taking an orange and trying to merge it with an apple and its never going to work out, its one or the other. This has coincided with a period of having a general creative block, both professionally and personally, where I’ve found it hard to even get a blog article started, in fact this the first article I have got past the first paragraph on since I finished my second guided walk for Caldercask late last month.
Sometimes all you need is something new to get the creative juices going again, in this case I’ve been asked to design the website for a local music festival at Southowram Cricket Club in July, the same club for whom I did the site redevelopment last year. Its not going to earn my any money, as all work I do for the cricket club is free or for non monetary payment (free membership and beer is usual payment), however its good for promoting my name and work further.
This article was published in the Winter 2009/2010 edition of Caldercask and can be found here
A few pints of a nice real ale is a great way to spend a free afternoon, a few pints at several fine drinking establishments can only improve this proposition, however you have the quandary then of who does the driving, as nobody wants to miss out on a nice pint of Timothy Taylor or Little Valley’s latest brew. In the first of a new series of articles, I’m going to solve this problem with some pub walks which are accessible with public transport and take in the best real ales pubs in the area. Each issue I will base a walk around one or two Calderdale towns or villages and take you to 4 or 5 pubs where you are guaranteed a good pint.
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I will start this series with a walk from my home village, Southowram to Brighouse, and what better place to start than my local pub, the Shoulder of Mutton, on Cain Lane, which just happens to be the current Northern Community Pub of the Year, awarded recently at the Great British Pub Awards. It lives up to its title, friendly staff, 2 or 3 real ales at any time, normally a blonde beer and a second brew which is changed every couple of weeks, with Harviestoun Schiehallion, Copper Dragon Golden Pippin and Saltaire Blonde making regular appearances. |
Ten years ago, I could have written this article without ever leaving Southowram with 5 pubs to visit in the village. But now we are left with 2, both in the village centre, the aforementioned Shoulder of Mutton and the Packhorse just up the road. At the Bank Top end of the village, we have lost the Manor House to a new housing estate and the Cock and Bottle is boarded up with no sign of re-opening any time soon. Down the hill from the Shoulder we have lost the Malt Shovel, which has been boarded up for at least 6 years now, and looking in a pretty poor state. I used to live just 15 seconds from the Cock and Bottle, so I could make a quick pint mean just that! However the rare blessing is that the best pub in the village remained open.
The good news for this walk, is that gravity is on your side all of the way, I thought I’d ease you in gradually, you’ll be walking back up the hill in the couple of issues time. After leaving the Shoulder, head downhill towards Brighouse for about 500m until you get to Chapel Lane on your right, just past here, you’ll see two tracks leaving the main road on the right side of the road, take the narrow walled track on the left directly behind the building, and ignore the vehice access track to the right. This will lead you eventually to Cromwell Woods. I’d lived up here for 7 years before I ever ventured here, but it’s one of the many nice short walks on Beacon Hill and probably the best in my opinion. After 200m, the walls give way to a patch of open land before you enter the woods for a peaceful mile of quiet woodland, interrupted only by dogs and their owners. Ignore the path to the right 400m into the woods, and head straight down the main track.
Eventually you will reach the end of the woods and join a farmers access track, drop down past the farm, and turn right towards the main road onto Brier Lane, ignoring the perpetually barking dog. All you need to do now is take a short walk towards Brighouse and you are at your next establishment, Casa Del Lago, not a traditional pub, but with panoramic views from the garden of the entire valley over the water skiing lake, it’s best taken in during summer. However the heated balcony makes it very comfortable during the cooler months of the year as well, with 2 – 3 cask ales on tap, normally a Westmoreland ale and rotating guests, as well as several good continental beers if others in your party are partial to that. Its also a good place for a mid walk lunch if you feel the need.
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After dislodging yourself from the sofas, you carry on along the road towards our destination for 1/2 mile, and to the best pub for ale on this walk, the Red Rooster. I’m sure there is no need for introduction to this pub for readers of Caldercask. Seven or eight well kept beers on rotation, pies and pasties from the local Ingfield Farm Shop served with peas and mint sauce, and a proper pub interior with stripped floorboards, traditional stools and tables. To be honest when researching this walk it was tempting to end it here, but I suffered and pushed on to yet another pub, its hard work you know. Ales on tap regularly include Moorhouses, Saltaire and Copper Dragon’s products among many others.
It is now a case of taking the main road into Brighouse and heading into the town centre to conclude this walk.
Brighouse town centre itself could be host to a very productive pub crawl, in this case I’ll finish at one of two pubs, and leave the Brighouse circuit extension to this pub walk up to your imagination. Unfortunately, what I considered to be the best real ale pub in the town is no longer open due to a fire and subsequent looting of the wreckage. By this, of course I mean the Tipp Inn, a fantastic little bar ran by great staff, situated in the unglamorous vicinity of the local recycling centre. So to keep the mood for todays outing, we’ll end at the Ship Inn on Bethel Street.
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The Ship Inn has a had a chequered history until recently, with a less that brilliant reputation being re-enforced by having plastic shielding on the windows for many years. However all of that has changed now, with a refurbishment totally changing the place, at least 4 hand pull taps serving consistently good beer, and regular rotation of guest beers. Alternatively there is Wetherspoons just down the road with a good selection of cheap real ales, I’m not even going to pretend to keep up with their rotation of beer, but lets just say that you’ll find something to your taste, and provision of cheap food to soak up the beer consumed is a bonus as well. |
You can now walk back up the hill, or if you are sensible then catch the bus back up and relax at the end of a good afternoon.
BUS SERVICES :
Halifax – Southowram – Brighouse 571, same service for opposite journey,
Halifax – Southowram – Halifax only 572
RAIL : Brighouse – Halifax.
MAP :
The air is thick with chalk dust, the rain rattling down on the roof, a small leak drips near the front door (just above the box which contains my trainers), all around there is activity, either climbers on routes, or people waiting for routes. Its busy as expected on a wet post lunch Sunday afternoon session, you are constantly keeping an eye on people above you. The cafe area is filled with the sound of a childrens party and popping balloons. Welcome to the Depot near Leeds on a typical sunday afternoon for this time of year.
This scene will be repeated in climbing walls all over the country at the exact same time. This November has been a boon for such facilities with the near constant rain keeping all but the most sheltered crags damp and driving climbers indoors. There seems to be a new wall opening every month somewhere, with Harrogate and Awesome Walls Stoke opening in the last few months. Just looking at my bank statement shows me I’m personally spending a small fortune on indoor climbing now, with at least a couple of climbing sessions a week, as a midweek session at Awesome Walls in Stockport or Leeds Wall and Sunday afternoon Bouldering at the Depot become the norm again.
At the end of the poor summer outdoor season for me, I wasn’t looking forward to moving indoors, and after a poor first month indoors I’m finally getting consistent good sessions, although my bouldering is coming on a lot more than my leading. My arm strain injury finally seems to have abated and I’m now moving onto V3 projects rather than the V1-V2 routes I’ve been stuck on for a while, and my leading head seems to be returning slowly but surely.
A climbing wall is on the surface the same wherever it is, boarding at different angles, holds, features, clips and ropes. However there can be huge differences from one to another, a crowded bouldering area can either be a pain or generate a good atmosphere according where you are. Staggering your start so the rope next to you can get some distance before you ascend, can either be a bore or an inspiration based upon the same criteria. I was at Leeds Wall a couple of weeks ago tying on for a 6a lead, when a pair just walked straight in front of us from another part of the wall, ready tied on from last lead and started on the route, jumping in front of us, me and my belayer were that surprised and left speechless. We weren’t the only ones they did this to!
Leeds is my nearest tall wall climbing centre and although the routes are good and there is plenty of variety, I find the place cold in personality. It something I can’t put my finger on to explain. Opinions on Leeds Wall seemed to be polarised on recent ukc2.com forum discussion, with as may defenders as critics. I’m not saying I don’t like the place, on the contrary its a great training facility, and I use it just as that, but I wouldn’t choose to go there for an afternoons social climbing with friends. Across the Pennines however is a wall which is just as big area wise, but has a totally different atmosphere, namely Awesome Walls in Stockport, its warmer put simply!. I know as many people casually in both places, but feel more welcome at Stockport. Maybe its because of the building, as one person suggested in the aforementioned forum thread, but I don’t think so myself, I used to climb at Rochdale Climb UK, before we started to find the walls too short, and it was located in an old car showroom as far as I can tell, much as Leeds Wall is located in an fairly modern warehouse building, so not much more of a salubrious location.
Awesome Walls (AWS) is located in an old 19th century factory, and admittedly it adds character to the place, but bricks don’t give the place ‘warmth’. Its more the chattiness of the people who are there which makes the difference, casual conversation seems a lot more common. I think this is down to the relative closeness of the walls compared to Leeds, where the essential large open floor space below the main lead overhang wall makes the area seem very open and empty. This leads to the rest of the routes being contained in 2 relatively tight spaces in the corner and to the right of the overhang wall, and gives the centre a slight sense of imbalance between the main areas. At AWS there is maybe slightly fewer ropes, but they are more evenly spaced and means there’s always people about, but you are not on top of each other.
However AWS’s main attraction is the 24m lead wall at the back, where even at lower grades its a damn good workout, and soon builds up wall endurance, its slightly daunting first time you do one, purely due to the height, and the rope stretch on the lower off leading to some more rapid than normal stages of decent, but its soon something you come to appreciate when you are getting 3 climbs worth in smaller centres such as Rochdale or Huddersfield in a single climb.
When it come to the social side of climbing however, you will inevitably getter a better atmosphere where you are having to be more involved with other people constantly, whether its waiting for a route or minding out for people above to you, and when bouldering this is almost a constant factor, with the nature of the activity being short bursts of action followed by a period of rest in which to socialise. The Depot gets this off to a tee, managing to maintain a cosy atmosphere with it rarely feeling crowded even when very busy, and keeping the friendly atmosphere when it is quieter. The crowd who go there are the friendliest I have found at any climbing facility, with encouragement from other users when on a route being the norm, and not just for people who are doing V7s, V8s or V9s, but for punters like me working on E2-E3 routes, and extending down to newbies doing V0s. It seems to encourage a mutual respect for other users whatever their abilities, and this only encourages people of the same thinking to attend regularly, not taking long until weekly casual conversations with the same people each week becomes routine and part of the enjoyment.
The management and staff are also an important part of the feel on the place, and again the Depot seem to have the right mix there as well, although I will admit, the floor supervision for a bouldering centre requires a different, less interventionalist style of contact with its users, due to the nature of the climbing there.
I’m sure other people will disagree with me about this!
WARNING – SEASON 3 SPOILERS – US PACE
This week saw the eleventh episode of Mad Men Season 3, and the tying of the story threads started.
This season has been accused of drifting over the middle episodes, and it was ironic that the episode which pulled the series sharply back into focus was called “The Gypsy and the Hobo”. There have been many suggestions on the forums at AMC.TV about what the title means and who it is refering to, some say Betty and Don, some say the Hobo is Don throughout his life.
The first theory I don’t buy, the Gypsy is a carefree, but self sufficent character, not something you could call Betty, self sufficency requires maturity and that is something Betty has been lacking up till the last few episodes, when the Don / Dick issue has been brought to her attention. Even with the seperation at the latter end of season 2, she was not that mature in her behaviour.
I see the Gypsy and the Hobo as Don and Suzanne, the hobo reference for Don is obvious with him not wanting to commit, in both in business life regarding his lack of contract until a couple of episodes ago and in his personal life with his numerous affairs from which he never seems to learn from, even when it pushed his marriage to the edge. This is backed up with the adoption of Don Drapers identity to escape his old life and the war. He seems willing to drift and “disappear” when he has to. Look at the California episode with the rich europeans in of season 2.
Suzanne is the gypsy, she is the free spirit, not requiring anything from Don apart from his company, she understands the situation, and that she will always be on the side line, to keep both Dons marriage and her job as a teacher safe. This is where she shows maturity. Take the scene where Don is surprised by Betty’s return, and Suzanne is left in the car while they discuss Dons dual life. She could have kicked up a fuss, but she quietly waited, realised what was going on, and left to go home. When Don called the next morning, she knew that it was over for now, and accepted the fact, although she was deeply upset.
However the highlight of this episode was the confession of his double life by Don to Betty after the discovery of the evidence in the locked drawer in last weeks episode. People have accused January Jones of being a bit wooden in her portrail of Betty, but this episode showed some of the best one on one acting, by both her and Jon Hamm I have seen in this series and certainly the best in season 3.
The extended scene where Don went from being defensive to realising that his “lie” was up was played perfectly, and you could see it in Dons face well before anything was said. Despite all the lies that Don had told her in the past, she had no doubt he was telling the truth this time. The later conversation in the bedroom showed Don publicly greaving for the suicide of his half brother Adam, something he could not have done before now, as Adam was part of his secret. It was then when Betty realised why all this had been kept from her, and it wasn’t a slight on her, more the fragility that sits under Dons confident smooth shell.
All this is without going into Roger and the old flame from Europe showing up looking to someone to handle her account. Again Roger showed a side you don’t see that often, realising that he was happy with his marriage and didn’t want to even consider rekindling, even for 1 night, their old relationship as he was married to the “one” who was “carefree and didn’t worry about the future”, and that she wasn’t the “one” for him.
This episode cues up the last 2 episodes for a grand finale to season 3, and I’ve a feeling we will lose another major character before this season is up.
Tell me (deep breath) why (deep breath) I’ve paid (deep breath) to do this (deep breath) again. That was my feelings as I ascended the 350m up to the top of Derwent Edge, its utter madness if you thought about it. You’ve still got 21.5 miles to do, and your warm up is the steepest part of the course, or you could look at it from the point of view that’s its all downhill from here. On the way up I agreed with the first statement, once at the top the second statement prevailed.
This was my second Nine Edges after coming in last to the (being disassembled) gate at 7.10pm last year, in a time of 10 hours including climbing at 5 of the edges before deciding I didn’t have enough time to do the rest. The one day I could do with a decent days climbing, it deserted me totally for the day, and spent 45 minutes faffing about on a climb at Derwent that should have took me 5 minutes.
I had no real training for this walk, and any last minute training was curtailed when I pulled my calf 3 weeks before the event while bouldering, and later on in the event with about 14km to go it showed. Before this my last long walk was 15 miles around Langdale in June. I figured I could use my family holiday in North Wales just before the event to get some training in, but I got in just 1 walk up to 500m near Portmadog, before thick cloud stopped me getting to the 770m summit I was aiming for, still it proved my calf had healed itself.
This year I dropped the climbing section and just did the walking, with me was Dave, my climbing partner who was soloing routes along the way, although at 14km it was clear his pace was far faster than mine and we split up to meet at the end (this was bore out in the fact he was over 40 minutes faster than me finishing including him climbing).
The start as eluded to earlier was a killer, this isn’t down to the hill, as I’ve been on severer starts, but due to the fact that the first hill of the day in any walk is always a killer for me and I’m OK on subsequent peaks .However once the valley up to the plateau had been ascended and you were striding across the moor at 350m ASL, the views opening up as you gained height, with more of the Peak District become visible by the minute, an ever more impressive panorama was opening up, and it was worth all the effort, as you gain height up to the first checkpoint at the top the hill and the 5km mark is passed, taking in the traverse of the edge, you are left to admire the distant peaks before you drop down and enjoy the descent to the A57 at Moscar Lodge.
An early morning start was essential on a fine sunny day in September, as later in the day it would get a little too warm for walking long distances, and the lack of wind over Stanage Edge and clear skies made it increasingly uncomfortable for an hour or two before you hit the sheltering trees through the National Trust estate and the back of Curbar and Frogatt Edges.
15 minutes from the start I was wondering why I ever paid my £20 back in March to walk these 22 miles from Ladybower to Robin Hood yet again. It took me to my limits both physically and mentally last year, and still I registered as soon as entries opened last year. The Nine Edges challenge has that pull once you have tried it once, you keep coming back for it, and at the 22 mile mark, when checking into the last checkpoint at Robin Hood for my second finish, I would have happily paid my £20 there and then for the 2010 event.
Don’t believe the official distance, my GPS track has been 21ish miles for 2 years in a row, and you feel that last mile coming past Birchen Edge, so I’m tending to believe that, although the official distance did make a convenient t-shirt design this year, so I’ll let them off! Each year the organisation gets better and better, and all hats off to Edale MRT for their work, the marshalls were fantastic, and the water fill ups and snacks increasingly welcome as the challenge went on. The pint at the end is also most welcome and an incentive to finish if ever there was one!
On the last two days of the holiday, we did the local tourist things you do when you are in the Portmadog area, mainly go on one of the steam trains and go to visit Portmeirion. I’ll cover the latter first, as it had more of an impact on me.
Portmeirion photos can be found here
I’ve never been a die hard fan on the Prisoner TV series, but a passive fan. However Portmerrion was top of my places to visit while we were over here, and I wasn’t disappointed. I started watching the series again this weekend, and its so much more interesting when you recognise the locations for the scenes from your visit.
It is a beautiful place, not massive in area village wise, but with many little passages to explore. The main square is amazing, with the best view being from No 2′s house with the green domed roof. You spot new subtle features every time you go through an area for the 2nd or 3rd time, and could happily have spent a full day there with several changes of batteries and memory cards for my camera.
The variety of colours of the buildings and styles of architecture make you wonder what’s round the next corner. The walk down to the hotel and beach leads to the stone boat that could be seen at the Old Peoples Home scenes in the TV show, and if you walk further on from there, you can reach the end of the peninsula and the lighthouse returning through the woods.
You can see why they filmed the TV series there, it has that feeling about the place, lots of little passages, stair cases going off in all directions, and lots of places to overlook you, you could be spied on here and not know, in a positive way its quite an oppressive layout, very contained, yet as a visitor it overcomes this with the amazing views from every angle on any path and from any angle
There are buildings that are there for no reason, but for aesthetic reasons, and rightly so, the village was built by Clough Williams-Ellis, it was as an indulgence, and I wish there were more indulgences like this.
If you are a die hard fan of the show, you can even buy a 5.5ft tall white balloon for £30 from number 6′s cottage, I decided to just get the t-shirt instead.
I’ll be adding the Ffestiniog railway section in the next few days.
